Dispensing coin saver



y 1963 A. H. HORNISH 3,088,570

DISPENSING COIN SAVER Filed Feb. 15, 1960 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 C 1 so k 5 Q l5 I4 15 |7b l7 INVENTOR. ARTHUR H.HORNISH ATTORNEYS y 7, 1963 A. H. HORNISH 3,088,570

DISPENSING COIN SAVER Filed Feb. 15, 1960 2 Sheets-sheaf. 2

5| ss x l I I mg: I #13 11 I 52 FIG 6 INVENTOR.

ARTHUR H. HORNISH ATTORNEYS United States Patent 3,088,570 DISPENSING COIN SAVER Arthur H. Hornish, 3027 Mount Alister Road, Pittsburgh 14, Pa. Filed Feb. 15, 1960, Ser. No. 8,852 Claims. (Cl. 194-91) This invention relates to devices for collecting and retaining currency and more particularly, to devices which simultaneously dispense an article or message tab upon the insertion of a coin therein.

Although various types of vending machines are known which permit an article to be dispensed or vended after a coin has been inserted therewithin, these known types of vending machines require that the coin be inserted first and then a handle or other lever be operated to release and eject the commercial article to be vended. Although the present invention also has commercial utility, such as a novel message-dispensing coin saver or bank for children, it was primarily devised to dispense religious messages to and simultaneously collect an offering from individual members of religious congregations. The insertion of a coin into the coin saver automatically dispenses a message tab therefrom without the necessity of utilizing a separate lever to release the message after the coin has been inserted.

It thus has been an object of my invention to provide a device which will simultaneously dispense an article therefrom upon the insertion of a coin therein;

A further object of my invention has been to provide a device for encouraging the collection of currency by dispensing an article or message tab upon the insertion of a coin therein;

A further object of my invention has been to provide an inexpensive coin saver for collecting oiferings from congregations;

, Further objects of my invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following disclosure and accompanying drawings in which:

FIGURE 1 is -a perspective view of a coin saver embodying my invention;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view in section of the coin saver shown in FIGURE 1 with the top cover removed;

FIGURE 3 is a side elevational view in section taken along line IIIIII of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 4 is an end elevational view in section taken along lines IVIV of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 5 is a front elevational view of a second embodiment of a coin saver with a portion of the front cover cut away and removed; and

FIGURE 6 is a top plan view of the device shown in FIGURE 5.

Referring now to the drawings, and particularly FIG- URES 1 through 4, the coin saver disclosed therein comprises a housing 10 having an article or message tab compartment 11, an operating mechanism compartment 12, and a bank or coin-receiving compartment 13. A horizontal partition 14, forming a lower slide guide rail, divides the lower coin compartment from the'upper message and mechanism compartments. A pair of horizontally spaced-apart and vertically aligned upper guide rails extend along the length of the housing in spatial relationship above the lower slide guide rail 14 to form a guideway 15a therebetween. A pair of vertically-extending flanges 16 extend upwardly within the operating mechanism compartment, from opposed inner edges of the upper guide rails 15, and form a forward feed arm guideway portion 16a and a rearward coin chute portion 16b.

A feed arm 17 has horizontal flange portions 17a slidable within the guideway 150, a centrally upwardly turned nose portion 17b for engaging an article to be dispensed, and a vertical portion slida ble within the feed arm guideway portion 16a. The feed arm .17 is activated by a depresser arm 18, pivotally mounted at one end on a pivot pin 19 which extends through the vertically-extending flanges 16. The depresser arm 18 has a downwardly-extending contact arm 20 which abuts against the vertical portion 17c of the feed arm 17. A stop abutment portion 21, formed on the depresser arm 18, limits the upward movement of the depresser arm by abutting against an under surface of the cover or top of the housing 10. A coin slot 22 extends through the top of the housing 10 above the depresser arm 18 and, as shown in FIGURE 1, may have suitable guide means 22a thereabout to facilitate the insertion of a coin.

A vertical partition 25, having an opening 26 in the bottom thereof to receive the upwardly turned nose 17b of the feed arm 17, extends across the housing 10 above the spaced-apart upper guide rails 15 and forms a partition between the message compartment 11 and the mechanism compartment 12. A pair of telescoping spring guides 23 are secured between a back surface of the partition 25 and a front surface of the vertical portion 170 of feed arm 17. A feed arm return spring 24 is retained about the telescoping guides 23 in compression between the vertical partition 25 and the vertical portion 170 to normally urge the feed arm 17 to its backwardmost position, as shown in FIGURE 3, in abutment with the contact arm 20 of the depresser arm 18.

As shown in FIGURE 3, the message compartment 11 is provided with a plurality of stacked articles such as message tabs 27 resiliently urged downwardly into contact with the upper surface of guide rails 15 by a conical spring 28. A spring guide 29, secured to the top of the housing 10, retains the conical spring 23 in operable vertical alignment. A slot or opening 30 is formed in a front face of the housing 10 for dispensing an individual article or message tab 27 outwardly therethrough. As shown in FIGURE 1, the message tabs maybe positioned within a removable message compartment 11', so that upon a depletion of message tabs, the empty compartment may be removed and replaced with a full message compartment 11. The removable message compartment 11' may be held in place by any suitable means such as clips 31. Although a suitable latched opening may be provided in the walls of the housing 10, adjacent the coin compartment for facilitating the removal of coins therefrom, I prefer to inexpensively manufacture the housing out of plastic, without such an opening. When so manufactured, the message dispenser is disposable and designed for a single use only, since it must be destroyed to remove the coins therefrom.

In operation, when a coin is inserted through the coin slot 22, it pivots the depresser arm 18 downwardly about the pivot pin 19. Accordingly, the downwardly-extending contact arm 29, in abutment with the vertical portion 17c of feed arm 17, urges the feed arm forwardly against the resiliency of the return spring 24. As the feed arm 17 is slid forwardly, the horizontal flange portion 17a ride in and slide along the guideway 150, formed between the lower slide guide rail 14 and upper guide rails 15. In addition, the upwardly turned nose portion 1711 will slide through the opening 26 in the bottom of the vertical partition 25 and engage the lowermost article or message tab 27 and slide it forwardly and outwardly through the slot or opening 30 for-med in the front face of the housing 10. The feed arm 17 does not completely eject the message tab 27 from the housing 10, but merely projects it outwardly a sutficient distance so that it may be easily grasped by hand and removed from the housing.

As the coin is inserted to its full extent within opening 22, the depresser arm 18 is pivoted downwardly to such an extent to allow the coin to drop through the coin chute 16b into the bank or coin compartment 13. The compressed feed arm return spring 24 then urges the feed arm 17 backwardly which, in turn, pivots the depresser arm 18 upwardly until the stop abutment portion 21 contacts an under surface of the top of the housing 10. As the projecting message tab 27 is removed from the slot 30, the conical spring 28 will urge the next tab downwardly into contact with the upper surface of the spaced-apart guide rails 15,. wherein the operation may be repeated to dispense the next message tab.

Referring now to the embodiment shown in FIGURES and 6, a coin holder housing 50 comprises a back cover 51, an intermediate section 52, and a front cover 53. A plurality of open-ended grooves or coin channels 54 are formed in the intermediate section 52 and are separated by a plurality of slide guide partitions 55. Each of the partitions 55 has inwardly converging lock portions 55a formed at its lower end to provide the channels 54 with restricted bottom openings 54a. A slidable message tab strip 56 is initially positioned within each of the grooves or channels 54. The tab strips 56 are provided with perforated line portions 57 dividing each strip into a plurality of message tabs 58. Each tab strip 56 is provided with a tab lock 59 adjacent its upper end. The tab lock 59 has a recess or cut-away portion 60 for receiving a coin 67. The upper end of each channel 54 is provided with a top opening or recess 61, formed in a top portion of the intermediate section 52 to facilitate the reception of coins such as 67 within the channels 54.

Each of the tab locks 59 has a pair of friction edges 63 which pressibly and slidably engage edge portions of the guide partitions 55. Accordingly, the tab strips 56 may he slid downwardly in the channels 54 by applying a slight force thereto, such as by the insertion of a coin 67, however, the friction edges 63 prevent the strips 56- from freely falling outwardly from the bottom of the channels 54. Each of the tab locks 59 is also provided with stop abutment portions 64 which cooperate with the inward 1y converging lock portions 55a of the guide partitions 55, and prevent the tab locks from being removed from the channels 54 and also prevent any coins positioned within the channels from falling outwardly through the bottom openings 54a.

The back cover 51 is preferably made of an opaque supporting material such as cardboard. Similarly, the intermediate section 52 and the sliding tab strips 56 may also be made of cardboard, with the thickness of the strips 56 being equivalent to the thickness of the intermediate section 52, so that the front and back surfaces of the tab strips 56 will be planer with the front and back surfaces of the guide partitions 55. Each of the tabs 58 is provided with a message printed on the back surface thereof, which surface is in sliding engagement with the front surface of the back cover 51. The front cover may either be transparent or opaque, as desired. If a transparent cover is utilized, it may .be made of any suitable. transparent organic film. When an opaque cover is utilized, it may be provided with a plurality of slots 65. in alignment with the grooves or channels 54, to indicate whether or not the grooves have been filled with coins or have message tabs remaining therein. As shown, a collar flange 66 may extend upwardly from the top of the back cover 51 to provide means for hanging-up the coin holder 50.

In operation, when a coin 67 is inserted within a channel 54 through a recess 61 formed in the top portion of intermediate section 52, the coin engages the recess 60 of a tab lock 59. As the coin 67 is inserted downwardly in the channel 54, the tab strip 56 is moved downwardly so that a lower message tab 58 will project outwardly from the bottom opening 54a of the channel 54. Each tab 56 is of substantially the same length as the diameter of the coin to be inserted within the slot, and accordingly, the insertion of a coin 67 will move the tab strip 56 downwardly so that one complete tab 58 will project outwardly from the bottom of the channel 54. The tab 58 may then be torn off along the perforation lines 57 and the message dispensed on the back surface thereof may then be easily read.

When an additional coin is inserted in the same slot, it will contact the first coin which is in abutment with the tab lock 59 and move the first coin and the strip 56 downwardly to dispense another message tab outwardly through the bottom opening 54a of the channel 54. This process may be repeated in each of the channels 54 until all of the message tabs 58 are dispensed therefrom. When the last message tab 58 is dispensed from a channel 54, the stop abutment portions 64 of the tab lock 59 abut the converging lock portions 55:: of the guide partitions 55, and prevent the tab lock from being removed through the restricted bottom opening 54a of the channel 54. Accordingly, all of the coins 67 within the channels are retained therein by the tab locks 59 and cannot fall outwardly through the bottom openings 54a. When the coin holder housing 50 has been filled with coins and returned to the proper person, it then may be emptied by tearing open the coin holder. It thus can be seen that the coin holder housing 50 is designed for a single use, being disposable thereafter, and accordingly, it may be inexpensively manufactured. *5

Although I have disclosed several embodiments of my invention, it is to be understood that various changes' and modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A device for dispensing message tabs upon the insertion of a coin therein comprising, a housing, said housing having a plurality of guide channels formed therewithin and openly communicating with the bottom thereof, a plurality of guide members positioned between said channels, a message strip positionable within each of said guide channel's, each of said' strips having a plurality of message tabs removably secured thereto, means for facilitating the entrance of a coin in each of said guide channels, means for dispensing a message tab outwardly through the bottom of each channel upon the insertion of a coin therein and means for preventing coins within said channel from being discharged outwardly through the bottom thereof.

2. A message dispensing device operable upon the insertion of a coin therein comprising, a housing, a plurality of channels formed within said housing and openly communicating with the bottom thereof, each of said channels having a pair of guide means extending therealong, said guide means having inwardly converging lock portions at the lower ends thereof adjacent the bottom opening of the channels, a message strip positionable within each of said channels, each of said message strips having a plurality of message tabs removably secured thereto, each said channel having tab lock means for dispensing a message tab outward-1y through the bottom opening thereof upon the insertion of a coin therewithin, and said tab lock means having stop abutment portions engageable with said inwardly-converging lock portions to close-off the bottom opening of each of said channels upon the depletion of said message tabs and to prevent the coins within the channels from falling outwardly through the bottom opening.

3. A device as defined in claim 2 wherein said housing comprises a back cover, an intermediate section containing said guideways, and a front cover; and said front cover having a plurality of slots formed therewithin along each of said guide channels.

4. A device as defined in claim 2 wherein said housing comprises a back cover, an intermediate section containing said channels, and a transparent front cover.

5. A device for dispensing message tabs upon the inser- 6 tion of a coin therein comprising, a housing, said housing venting coins within said channel from being discharged having at least one guide channel formed therewithin and outwardly through the bottom thereof.

openly communicating with the bottom thereof, a pair of guide members positioned along said sides of said chan- References Cited in the file of this Patent nel, a message strip positionable Within said guide chan- 5 UNITED STATES PATENTS nel, said strip having a plurality of message tabs remov- 5 9 Gorin Aug 9, 1904 ably secured thereto, means for facilitating the entrance of 1 3 9 311 Bowen et 1 S t, 6, 1921 a coin in said guide channel, means for dispensing 21 2,495,576 Elia on Jan. 24, 1950 message tab outwardly through the bottom of said channel 2,629,476 Angell Feb. 24, 1953 upon the insertion of a coin therein and means for pre- 10 2,716,477 Page Aug. 30, 1955 

1. A DEVICE FOR DISPENSING MESSAGE TABS UPON THE INSERTION OF A COIN THEREIN COMPRISING, A HOUSING, SAID HOUSING HAVING A PLURALITY OF GUIDE CHANNELS FORMED THEREWITHIN AND OPENLY COMMUNICATING WITH THE BOTTOM THEREOF, A PLURALITY OF GUIDE MEMBERS POSITIONED BETWEEN SAID CHANNELS, A MESSAGE STRIP POSITIONABLE WITHIN EACH OF SAID GUIDE CHANNELS, EACH OF SAID STRIPS HAVING A PLURALITY OF MESSAGE TABS REMOVABLY SECURED THERETO, MEANS FOR FACILITATING THE ENTRANCE OF A COIN IN EACH OF SAID GUIDE CHANNELS, MEANS FOR DISPENSING A MESSAGE TAB OUTWARDLY THROUGH THE BOTTOM OF EACH CHANNEL UPON THE INSERTION OF A COIN THEREIN AND MEANS FOR PREVENTING COINS WITHIN 